1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to roofing shingles and more particularly is directed to a roofing shingle of the solid type, coated with ceramic granuales and usually made from either felt or fiberglass and asphalt, but including a backing strip of light-weight material such as cardboard and having substantially the same thickness as the weather-resistant sheet located on the back of the sheet of weather-resistant material. The backing strip which would also be weather resistant, located in the upper portion of the shingle, but below the upper edge. The backing strip is rectangular in shape like the flat sheet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an earlier-filed application of the same inventor, Ser. No. 442,597, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,226, filed Nov. 18, 1982, a shingle is shown with a series of marks on the shingle for convenience in cutting the shingle. In that application, a series of methods are taught for installing a roofing shingle with overlapped joints rather than butt joints to assist in avoiding leaks.
In still another earlier-filed application of the same inventor, Ser. No. 624,099, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,785, filed June 25, 1984, a pair of coordinated roofing shingles of the solid type are shown with at least two vertical adhesive strips to hold down both of the coordinate shingles and to seal the overlap between two adjoining shingles in the same row of shingles so as to prevent the horizontal flow of water at the overlaps.
It has also been known in the art to provide a plastic film between shingles when bundled for shipment to prevent the singles from sticking together. Also, with the present invention, the backing strip, along with it's other distinctive useful features, serves to permit packaging without sticking problems. With the shingles stored or packed on top of one another with the backing strips always located downwardly, the upper major edge and the lower major edge of the flat sheet of each shingle will bend downwardly, providing a desirable preformed shape to each shingle for affixing to the roof.
With the known techniques for laying roof shingles, the upper two inches, the middle two inches, and the lower two inches of a series of twelve inch shingles in successively higher rows form three layers of shingle, while in the remaining areas of each shingle, there are only two shingle layers on a roof. As a result, a void forms beneath a shingle from the top edge of the next lower course of shingles to the top of the shingle itself. The backing strip fills that void up to the point where the triple layer is formed.
It is also recognized that modern shingles have a poor tensile strength making nailing difficult. The backing strip provides a stiffer shingle which grips the nails securely thereby holding the shingles securely in place without the nails being pulled through the shingles. Besides providing better holding power through the nails, the backing strip eliminates the void caused by the top edge shingle thickness as succeeding courses are applied. Previously, this condition limited nailing to the lowest two-inch or one-third area where the nail heads would be covered, but least covered, by the next course. Nailing above this lowest covered two-inch area, especially during cold weather, naturally results in holes larger than the nail shank area since the nail would be driven into only two layers of roofing with a void beneath it.
Shingles also currently slide readily on a roof and do not provide a stop to hold them and to guide them in place for nailing. The marks proposed by the first earlier patent referred to herein assists with the problem of guiding the placement of the shingles, but having a positive edge against which to butt the shingle against the next lower course, assures an even roof without visual checking, while at the same time providing a positive edge on which to rest shingles so that they cannot slide off the roof.
The novel features which are considered as characteristics of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appending claims. The invention itself, however, as to its construction and obvious advantages will be best understood from the following description of the specific embodiment when read with the accompanying drawings.